Are you a beginner and conscious about your budgerigar bird care? Actually learning about budgerigar bird care is very important whether you are a beginner or an experienced avian pet parent. Good thing is that, caring for these small, and beautiful birds is very very easy and simple, and beginners can take good care of them easily.
Budgerigars are also known by some other names in many different places around the world. But it is mostly known as parakeet bird in the United States. Budgerigars are actually among the top choice for the beginners who want to keep pets. Budgerigars are actually the number 3 pet throughout the world after dogs and cats.
Budgerigars are adaptable to a wide range of environments. They are not too demanding, and they can be trained to be handled, making them ideal even for beginners or the first time pet parents. All budgies will chirp and whistle all the time. But some birds can imitate repeated words, phrases, or chattering sounds. However, read some more information about budgerigar bird care.
Ensure Good Habitat
Providing good housing environment is a very important part of your budgerigar bird care. As a beginner, you can start keeping your budgies in cages. Generally a cage measuring 18 inches wide, 18 inches long and 24 inches height is considered ideal for keeping a pair of budgies. The bars of the cages should be spaced 1/2 inch apart or even smaller.
Provide Good Bedding
Arranging good bedding facility for your budgies is also an important part of your budgerigar bird care. Line the bottom of your budgie’s cage with paper for daily cleaning. And monitor the droppings for signs of illness. Actually, you can use several different types of budgie bedding that are inexpensive and available easily such as newspaper, paper towels, plain paper packaging, brown paper bags, butcher paper etc.
But try to avoid using glossy printed ads, as the ink may be toxic if ingested by your birds. Also avoid using crushed corn cob bedding or pelleted paper. Because these products will hold moisture that may promote fungal growth in warm environments.
Clean Their House Regularly
Keeping the living environment of your budgies clean is very important. You should perform daily spot cleaning for removing spoilage and discarded food. Wash the food and water bowls regularly. You can use a 3% bleach solution or a pet-safe non-aerosolized habitat cleaner according to the manufacturer’s recommendations.
Providing Enough Feeding Dishes
Provide enough numbers of feeding dishes inside their cage so that your birds don’t compete for food. You can provide either plastic trough with hanging hooks, or a stainless-steel bowl with a clamp attachment to hang from the cage. You can also provide a ceramic crock style that sits on the cage floor well.
You should offer dry food, fresh food, and water in separate dishes. And provide the birds water dishes which is large enough to allow the birds to bathe. Replace any worn or damaged dishes with new ones to prevent injury. And regularly wash and dry these dishes.
Provide Your Birds Nutritious Food
Feeding the birds with very good quality and nutritious diet is very important for keeping them healthy, happy and active. You can offer your birds with pelleted diet from their very early stage. Because, pelleted foods are the best source of some essential nutrients. Your budgie’s ideal diet should contain 60-70 percent pelleted diet.
You can provide them fortified seeds and millet sprays as an occasional treat. You can occasionally provide some fruits and vegetables as treats. Some fruits and vegetables which you can give to your budgies are pea pods, broccoli, papaya, bell peppers, sweet potatoes, berries, melons etc. And always try to provide them enough clean and fresh drinking water as per their demand.
Offering Perches Is A Part Of Your Budgerigar Bird Care
Offer your budgies perches according to their size, height, and texture and also materials. Doing this will ensure your birds can exercise their feet, and this may help them to prevent sores. However, budgie perches should be at least 4 inches long and 3/8 inch in diameter. Don’t provide wider perches, because wider perches will limit proper gripping, which can lead to falls and other serious injuries.
Avoid placing perches directly above the budgie’s feeding bowls. Doing this is very important to prevent the bird droppings from soiling their water or food bowls. And be sure to replace any worn or damaged perches for safety reasons.
Ensure Adequate Lighting
You have to arrange full lighting facility for your birds. Use a full-spectrum UV light designed for the birds for about 10-12 hours per day. Do this only to supplement UV exposure when natural sunlight is limited.
Provide Your Birds Some Toys
You have to provide your birds with enough toys for their entertainment, enrichment, and exercise. Their toys can be made from either firm plastic, wood, metal, fabric, or paper such as cardboard. You can provide them foraging toys, ladder, swings, a bird-safe mirror etc. Try to rate your budgie’s toys weekly, and if possible replace them monthly. Doing this will help them to stay away from boredom.
Regular Grooming Is Important
Regular grooming is a part of your budgerigar bird care. Your budgies will enjoy an occasional bath by dipping in a bowl of water. You can use a mist water bottle sprayer for the birds that do not bathe on their own. Doing this will help them bathe a few times each week.
Regular nail trimming is essential for more comfortable handling of your budgies, and also for preventing snagging on fabrics. And routine wing trimming is essential and will encourage the birds to prevent escape and injury when flying. You should repeat wing trimming every few months as a budgie’s flight feathers are naturally replaced.
Arrange Enough Room To Exercise
A best and ideal exercise for your budgies is allowing them unrestricted room for flapping their wings. You can keep some toys inside their cage that encourage climbing, foraging, and safe chewing behavior. You can also arrange supervised time out of the cage or an enclosed flight cage or aviary. Doing this will help to provide enrichment and social interaction.
Provide Companionship
The budgerigars are flock birds and they enjoy the company of other birds. Never keep a single budgie, rather try to keep at least a pair. Actually, the ideal number of birds you can keep together depends on how much attention, time, and resources you have as a pet parent. A few budgies will likely require more personal attention from you to meet their socialization needs. While a group of housed budgies together have less need for human interaction.
Handle Your Birds With Care
The pet budgies that are hand-raised by human parents are accustomed to being handled without stress. Pet budgies may approach their parents on their own and will eat when food is hand offered. Approach cautiously to the birds that have been raised by their bird parents, and not trained for human handling. Doing this is very important to reduce stress and injury.
You can wrap a small hand towel around the bird during handling. Doing this can help to protect both the bird and the handler from injury, and it also reduce bird’s fear of an approaching hand. Doing this is especially very useful when administering medication like eye drops.
Perform Regular Veterinary Care
Performing regular veterinary care can help the birds to stay healthy, active and disease free. Try to do at least once a year physical examination by board-certified avian or exotic animal practitioner. During the heat test, the veterinarian may perform a fecal test to look for intestinal parasites and bacteria.
These are the most common tasks you can do for your budgerigar bird care. Budgerigars are smaller sized birds and they relatively require less caring. You can take good care of these birds even if you are a beginner. Hope this guide has helped you. Good luck and may God bless you!
